The Filecoin network currently holds over 16EiB of storage capacity from around 4,000 storage providers. Although Filecoin has rolled out four types of implementations for storage providers, most of them do so by running Lotus.
To encourage storage providers to actively use multiple implementations, the Filecoin Foundation and the Venus team (the IPFS Force community) recently launched the VenusHub platform, a plan to help storage providers deploy Venus implementations.
What is Venus?
Venus is a Filecoin distributed storage network implemented in the Go language and designed according to the principles of distributed systems. The main purpose of Venus is to let the storage providers convert from web2 to the Filecoin network as seamlessly and efficiently as possible. It optimizes the production process of storage clusters in all sizes for all storage providers and is especially beneficial for small and medium ones because it has a lower entry barrier than other implementations.
Over the past 14 months, Venus and its many features have proven to be a secure and efficient packaging and cluster management solution. However, many storage providers don’t even know that Venus is a viable option in a Lotus-dominated environment.
VenusHub is a long-term running community-driven project designed to continue to support and help develop the Venus community. Its mission is to make the Filecoin community safer, more diverse, and more resilient.
What does VenusHub contain?
VenusHub will contain five initiatives coordinated by the Venus community to encourage more storage providers to adopt the Venus implementation.
1. Venus meetup
To gather interesting and valuable information and have open discussions with community members to keep everyone up to date with what’s happening on Filecoin and Venus.
2. Venus Master
Venus Master is an open project for members of the Venus community. The main tasks of Venus Master are providing technical support for storage providers, joining in other activities organized by the Venus community, and participating in discussions and testing feedback in the Venus community.
3. Venus Supported Hackathons
Venus will host or support hackathon projects in the Filecoin community and other Web3 communities, including providing technical consultation, development direction consultation, and corresponding bonuses.
4. Incubator of Venus storage providers
A 12-month program designed to make it easier for storage providers to join Filecoin and provide storage services. In the incubator, the Filecoin Foundation funds the participants and runs the Venus Chain Service.
5. Venus Deal Accelerator
Venus is committed to providing a full-featured experience for large-scale storage users and storage providers. With the development of the Filecoin network and the efforts made by the community, more storage demands will be fulfilled in the future, and the Venus community will also tackle the challenges head-on. The Venus Deal Accelerator project is used to help shape this vision.